Daves Avenue Elementary School Participates in Earthquake Evacuation Drill

The 28 pupils in Jason McCullough's fourth-grade class at Daves Avenue Elementary School participated Thursday morning in an earthquake evacuation drill.

The exercise coincided with the release of a 19-month investigation by the journalism watchdog group California Watch, which uncovered holes in the state's enforcement of seismic safety regulations for public schools. 

The school, which was found to be the safest among all public campuses in Los Gatos—because it's not near fault lines or landslide and liquefaction areas—had all kindergarten-through-fifth-grade students participate in the drill.

During the exercise, every school staff member had an assigned role. The drill began with the announcement, "This is an earthquake drill. Duck and cover."

The students then assumed the ducking and covering position under their desks and held still for approximately one minute. In the event of a real earthquake, the children would have waited until everything stopped shaking, according to Principal Susan von Felten.

The teacher then announced, "Please evacuate." Students then silently filed to the evacuation point and waited for further instructions.

Staff assigned as "sweepers" then checked each assigned school area to ensure that all students were safely out of the buildings. The teachers reported that the classes had arrived safely to the evacuation areas.

Once the school was sure all students had safely left the building, an all-clear signal was given, and students returned to their rooms.

In the event of a real earthquake, students would have remained with their teachers until parents picked them up, von Felten explained.  

The school has enough stored food to feed 625 people for three days. It has a total enrollment of 581 students, von Felten added.